Although the main line to Ripon and the north has now closed, as have the subsidiary lines to Boroughbridge and Pateley Bridge, one interesting route has survived, the Knaresborough to York line, that was originally promoted as the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway. 

The first reading of the East and West Yorkshire Railway Bill was on February 14th 1846; it received Royal Assent on 16th of July of that same year. The line opened on the 30th October 1848 and was 15 miles and 14 chains in length, running from the line of the York and Newcastle Railway one and a half miles from York at Skelton Junction, to a Junction with the Leeds and Thirsk Railway just outside Knaresborough at Hay Lane.

his is a record of a line that is in many respects an anachronism in this digital age. However, it is an anachronism that we rather like, and hope that it stays unchanged for a good few more years to come.

For Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator on IBM-compatible PCs 

Full description, maps, line inventory, over 180 Pages, 116 photos